But Houston certainly wanted to after losing at their house in November.

The Cougars used a barrage of 3-pointers to build a double-digit lead in the first half, then held on late as the Panthers rallied to within four points for an 80-75 win Saturday at Hofheinz Pavilion.

The victory avenged one of only two losses for the Cougars during their sizzling 10-2 start.

"The first time they were at home and their crowd was ridiculous," said forward TaShawn Thomas, who had 22 points and nine rebounds. "I've never played in an environment like that. And this time we had more confidence because we were home, of course, and we came out with more pop because they beat us the first time.

"The first time we underestimated them, so this time we came out knowing what they could do."

Forward Danuel House, who also poured in 22 points with four steals, said the Cougars wanted this win badly. Their 81-80 loss the first time around had clouded their consciousness far too long.

"We thought about it for a month," he said. "We even thought about it (before) the Texas A&M game (Houston's only other setback), and there went the right mindset to get into the next game.

"So we've been thinking about it for a while and it felt good to get a win today."

The 3-point shot helped them secure it.

Down 10-9 early, the Cougars hit four during a five-minute span, with two coming from Joseph Young – who played after attending his grandfather's funeral Saturday morning – for a 25-12 lead.

Leon Gibson's trey with four seconds left gave Houston a 46-32 halftime lead. House and Young each were 3-of-5 from 3 at the break, and the Cougars were 8-of-13. They shot 50 percent from the field.

"I thought we recognized and took what they gave us in the first half," UH coach James Dickey said. "We had some good open looks. But, I'm a firm believer, you've still got to throw the ball inside."

That didn't work at first.

UH went six minutes without attempting a 3 in the first half, while trying to play inside-out, and the Panthers (5-8) pulled within 29-24 with 4:03 left.

But Dickey's physical philosophy — and this game was physical, with Jherrod Stiggers ejected for coming off the bench after a fight for a loose ball led to a brief skirmish — paid off after halftime.

The 3 wasn't falling, so UH held its lead by going to the basket, with Gibson and Thomas supplying big putbacks, and Thomas coming up with a couple key offensive boards down the stretch.

Still, Prairie View cut its deficit from 16 points with 6:53 left in the game to four, 76-72, with 1:29 to go, forcing House to polish off the victory from the free-throw line, where he was a perfect 7-of-7.